well the f.b.i. responded to our search for answers well how about the details all new in thirty minutes and the desert for now for more on the story that we've covered is going to argue dot com slash usa watch out argue to page at you tube dot com slash r.t. america. today children play war in the old. nine hundred forty one these walls were the first barriers and announce the troops on their way to moscow. were dying one by one under c. some. one. in

the last shelter an unnamed soldier left a few simple words farewell. i'm not surrendering. today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. for racial.

hey john berman here broadcasting live from washington d.c. coming up today on the big picture. the latest in science and technology from. the future of

coverage. and. rest fortress today it's on the territory of the sovereign republic of the roots formerly the soviet republic of bill or russia a fortress was once the westernmost outpost of the soviet empire each day schoolchildren in the town of brest part in a ceremony by a local monument to commemorate what happened there. on june twenty second one hundred forty one german fashion forces invaded the soviet union without a declaration of war the defenders of the breast fortress found themselves in a dead end situation it is here that the myth about the invincibility of the german army was broken after the end of the war and the rest fortress as a name became synonymous to perseverance courage and belief in victory for years to come.

the early hours of june twenty second nineteen forty one german artillery unleashes a massive barrage from the breast garrisoned. german warplanes similar to mislead dropped hundreds of bombs on the fortress soon after infantry assault groups launched the initial ground attack. is one of the officers in charge of the fortress defenses. is dodger i so often visits the monument to her father on the outskirts of breast. this takes it shows what he looks like me at the even today i guess nervous when i come here what's family if i see those events in my mind's eye as if they were yesterday . today children play war in the old case me but in the first days of the real war the unit under the command of logic. was holding out in one of them

within two days the defenders had exhausted their ammunition. daughter saw the germans trying to capture her father. of the sudden it was a noisy scene that father had caught him taken where he had jumped onto the ratings and plunged into the written down and began firing to ask him that suggests in captivity he shouts if those are the last words he attracts to his soul. in accordance with their plan to attack the soviet union the germans had amassed three armies close to the border among these armed groups or was the most powerful its mission was to encircle and destroy soviet troops and belorussia and move on to moscow via as money. the german strategy relied on surprise attack to demoralize the adversary from the opening seconds.

the sound of the explosions was deafening before that i had seen war only in films . i thought it was an earthquake i just couldn't believe there was a war going on. the first hours of june twenty second one nine hundred forty one. a member of the military band asleep in his barracks on the second floor abreast fortress. within minutes of the attack bullets and shells fragments had riddled the barracks walls. i remember dust all over the place. well. i could barely breathe iraq myself on a blanket. then i heard an order from your rifles and get downstairs. now i barely have time spall my coals before listening downstairs with my platoon.

only a few hours later the german plan to move through bella russian territory had stalled . every week covered from the initial shock soldiers remaining in the garrison offered stubborn resistance despite being a number nearly two to one by their attackers. and one of our rifle regiments counterattacks the germans faltered and tried to roll back to the terrorists pull gates but they were met with a shower of bullets there too. many of the fascists tied there. at the beginning of the huns edmund sean back was born in munich on june twenty second one thousand nine hundred one he was among the german troops who entered the russia. shortly before that he had been called up from high school and sent to the eastern front to serve in a panzer unit. a huge fourth terrifying wave of german

artillery moved from also it's. into russian territory and when they were done we knew we had to go in. another tanks initially when i saw the first horribly injured german soldiers and it wasn't just me we all knew what would happen and it was terrible. the border between the poem follows the same line along which coast were once deploy. it was they who bore the brunt of the nazi invasion for several days small arms were the only weapons the border guards can nevertheless they held up the advance of german troops and tanks for some time and they milling the fortress garrison to organize them. yes can come on the german command allowed thirty minutes for the destruction of the frontier posts but some held out from one to seven days proposing one attack after

another. these pill boxes on the board were built shortly before the war but they were never used supplies and ammunition for the machine guns had been scheduled to arrive the day after the next invasion of soviet territory. was in command of one of the pill boxes it was officer on duty the day before the start of the war this picture shows or so i would encourage his friend nikolai a fellow servicemen returning from a night of dancing in breastplate on june twenty first. the news. doesn't mir. i have something terrible to tell you. his thoughts. when i was there my girlfriend told me. the

war would break out to morrow she was four in the morning so like. all those nine hundred thirty nine two years before the start of the war. between the soviet union and germany have become noticeably warmer foreign ministers of the two states mullet of an ribbentrop sign a non-aggression pact. in september nine hundred thirty nine german troops invaded. this is german commander hines. his tanks captured the breast fortress at that time part of polish territory . this is rare footage i joined it in german military for a. with a secret deal to divide your german military hands breast over to soviet troops in less than two years time. will again launch an assault on breast fortress fighting

against the same troops lives in the interim dispenser units will have gained valuable experience in successful offensive operations in europe. and. assured we have the most insane knowledge ain't communicate between the time. headphones. and that allowed us to react small quickly the the russian tanks couldn't communicate with each other and whereas we could for example withdrawal and then a time from the science. june twenty fourth one of the most tragic days for the defenders of the fortress during another attempted assault and that's just used russian officers wife and children as a human shield on this bridge. they told us women and children to lie down on the bridge close to watch every piece is

. can you imagine four or five guns firing is a time it can shatter your brain. my son slava had one of his it. now he can't hit anything it's all in that's here yes i saw my daughter's hand nina turning gray one after another. she was only a little kid. alexander mccall was only six years old in one nine hundred forty one he and his parents were living in brest fortress he spent two days in the so-called magazine at the start of the war he was wounded and lost his entire family. at all since and the gravity of the situation. and who. was standing in. with that's when we got scared over the roof. and when i saw my mother and sister

killed while sitting right here. i talked myself away as far as i cooled on the feet of those who were there in the cellar with. in essence the entire character of the fortress. this is a monument to the victims of the wars of first day numbers building houses a museum. at its center a famous exhibit and alarm clock the stop kicking as soon as the war began. another exhibit is dedicated to the children of red army commanders who fought in the fortress and many of them were murdered by s.s. task forces in one thousand nine hundred two a year after german troops attacked the soviet union. forces and also in the night in forty two the fascists massacred fifty four children at an orphanage breast and their parents had already died in the war. while fred

amanda was the children's teacher she and the children the fullest out of the orphanage and skill to own the family just. a vigil of commemoration and sorrow takes place each year in the breast fortress on the night of june twenty first candles are lit and then rush yours veterans come here from all over the former soviet union a slide show features pictures of the red army commanding officers who took part in the defense of breast fortress after the ceremony border guard soldiers float reads in the western movie river to commemorate the people whose lives were cut short in breast fortress in june one thousand nine hundred one the names of many of them are still unknown.

cultures that so much of an oldish visitation on the market from spring to be uprisings and at least a fast becoming vicious civil war. twenty

second midday eight hours after the german attack most of the surviving defenders of the best fortress moved into cellars under the barracks just to tell you co and his comrades spend about three days them back in the nineteenth century the cellars withstood direct hits in the aerial bombardment. of the year when there was a hospital for the wounded here but one of the makeshift mortuary was over there at the end of the corridor the more the german command demanded that the defenders lay down their arms and surrender when they turned down the ultimatum german assault groups used flame throwers to flush them out. the heat was so intense that even bricks begun to melt. the fighters continued their resistance as

the shifted from one place to another. this is how german war correspondents portrayed the event but cameramen were unable to film an emerging from sellers with their hands raised as a sign of surrender none of them did that. there were at this russian surrender the german shelter a loudspeaker or we know they will let you live don't be afraid they say it. was some of the spot of the loudspeaker they hit it with a burst of machine gun fire it's where you and i that was the end of the propaganda . that. a shortage of water was the biggest problem the defenders faced the western move river was nearby but german troops were in control of all approaches to it still the author could have another fighters managed to reach the river several times under the cover of darkness. to reach the west

we were sometimes crawling sometimes running. over their mess tunes our helmets then trying to make no noise we had to do with the germans fired flares all the time they certainly would have opened fire if they spotted. no days mining engineers for wartime ammunition in the western. one of the latest finds is a german two hundred ten millimeter artillery shell. is just as dangerous today as it was sixty eight years ago. careful slowly slowly don't turn it over. most. could go off at any moment if it's not handled properly if it does judging by its size it will obliterate everything within a radius of about five hundred meters. on the average day divers pick up three to

ten objects relating to the first days of the war. in the nineteenth century the brest fortress was long considered impenetrable they outer walls were two meters thick. in the twentieth century it was in effect a death trap for the seventy thousand strong soviet garrison. from the start of the war all the fortresses gates were continuously under artillery and machine gun fire they were also blocked by attacking enemy troops as a result fewer than half of the men who were here on june twenty second were able to leave the fortress and protect the border. operation barbarossa the german plan to seize soviet territory was ready in december nineteen fourteen but most of the soviet leaders as soon that hitler would target britain first before unleashing any attack on the soviet what. what.

stalin was already aware of the plan by february not in forty one the problem was that the germans regularly postpone the invasion and initially it was i proven my fifteen min while stalin was displayed trying to delay war until. the present fortress where the first assault was launched actually consisted of several forts situated on islands around the main fortification in the south the eastern seaboard offered the most stubborn resistance. most of the fortress defenders still expected reinforcements down to the end they did know they were already well behind enemy lines germans has seized the town of brest within hours. abreast residents lived under occupation for nearly three years when the germans came she was told that she was now and on demand a second rate person. there's

a toilet that really even public toilets in hospitals could not be used but everybody johns had decent food the obvious we're not so lucky. to so if they don't name every way you could see signs saying. it's only oh i. know and trying to say it's already during the first days of the war many people in the breast and its environs started sneaking out of town. in the force of belorussia they form groups of guerrilla warfare. learn new skills and those of a machine gun are here in the forest dugouts in june one thousand nine hundred one could have. children and women was hiding in there and if all of us lived here and all of us were helping each other. the partisans stayed in the force for about three. a time they carried out reconnaissance and secret monitoring of the enemy in

the evening they were engaged in special operations. forces use this railway to bring military hardware to the frontline. exposes were placed under this truck so that nobody could see them. the german sent reconnaissance parties to check the tracks but that didn't help a lot of scouts and a little as the train came closer we singled out the wagon carrying military equipment to be blown up. quick and the wagon was no more. this image tracer soldiers of the german forty fifth division appeared soon after the assault on the fortress and takeover of the town of brest german troops had already swept across poland france and much of europe but in storming the russia they encountered the most ferocious resistance to date. and. the best bit solace that all weapons were the best in the worlds. we were the strongest anyway

invest and we believed it. mostly because of all successes in western europe like the operation in france but it was far from the truth. these for so with memorials commemorate fighters whose bodies have been recovered by search parties since the war searching for missing soldiers is a long and complicated process. first the head of a search group asks locals where exactly the fighting took place. what with their also. many of our fighters particularly because isn't tied in this film at all just looking through the woods you can see the dead lying in groups of ten or twelve they never made house in the forest. and then a group of volunteers sets out on an expedition they call the site meter after

meter. weapons and other objects made of metal keep fairly well underground. this is a soviet helmet it was a direct hit. you can see where the shot entered and exited. turns to base the objects are carefully examined the latest expedition has turned up. a flask. but the searchers regard so-called medallions as the most valuable. these are small pieces containing all important papers they carry the information that will help identify the soldier his age rank and the name of town or village where he was called up. it just so happens that we're from the same place as the dead soldier we're going to look for his relatives now one more fallen soldier has a name. if

papers identifying the dead are found they're sent to officials at state or con each year adds more names to the list of brest fortress defenders. this is the personal record of one of the fighters step on studies lofsky his identity was verified just a few years ago. no his name is inscribed on a memorial wall in the central alley of breast fortress it has replaced another place saying unknown soldier studies last he's nice is his only surviving relative just recently did she learn of her uncle's fate can yes not see that which people one certainly see to grief of somebody they loved least laois and they didn't think about that person there is nothing more painful than they were missing so when my uncle's name was finally written on a memorial plate it was a very touching moment for my family. the less defenders of breast fortress

repelled german attacks for nearly a month in the one nine hundred sixty s. the museum received a fragment of the inner wall of one of the case mates of the eastern for an inscription discovered on it dates from july twentieth one thousand nine hundred forty one scribbled with a knife and said farewell my. i'm dying but i'm not surrendering. nobody surrendered of their own accord. all of those captured were wounded people. because there were unable to use their weapons. but nobody raised their hands before to the death to the last man. hitler and mussolini arrived in august one hundred forty one for a visit to brest fortress despite official reports claiming that there were no surviving defenders on present. the security precautions were put in place. on the

eve of the top level visits to german soldiers patrolling an area near the fortress had disappear. for fear of hitler and mussolini entered the fortress through a bridge that used to be right here where hitler saw here is known to have made a strong impression on him and even took a stone lying amongst the ruins with him. after the fall of berlin the stone was found in hitler's office at the chancellor e. of the third reich. the church in breast fortress. there are traces of shells on the walls and inside the dome. it was from here that the defenders of breast fortress launched their first counterattack. scores of german and soviet soldiers died here. the time has come for mutual forgiveness. that we must live in peace. it's not that we should forget the

past it must not be forgotten. but we might forgive. children now play invest fortress where military hardware dating back to the one nine hundred forty s. is on display they knew about that war only from books and films. on holidays veterans told tourists about the war theater kacelnik of another survivors of the first battles in the fortress regard these rooms as the cornerstone of their faith and the ultimate victory over fascist troops that can take of his comrades live to see that victory in one thousand nine hundred five nearly four years after those tragic events and rest fortress.

sure is that so much different if you visited on the market from spring just the uprisings in italy may be becoming vicious civil war. a job market here broadcasting live from washington d.c. coming up today on the big picture. more news today paula.